[tired&retired]

<

[yldstrk]

really the way I see it, it’s a total crap shoot.

I have seen people born into rich families acting like complete monsters or hapless; on our block we have a daughter who inherited the house, which was formerly nice and now it is not obvious from the outside but inside is trashed.

I am familiar with people born into southern pverty, you could see through the cracks to the dirt below, who have worked their way into the upper middle class.

I have seen the daughter of a multimillionaire flake out and need electroshock therapy for mental health issues.

I have seen liars and thieves prosper and good people get ripped off.

Who knows?

[discostu]

Short term poverty can be bad luck, long term poverty is bad decisions.

[monocle]

Does anyone want to wager that IQ scores have no effect on income levels?

[machman]

Some people like to gamble,
But you, you always lose.
Some people like to rock 'n' roll,
You're always singin' the blues
You gotta nasty disposition,
No one really knows the reason why,
You gotta bad, bad reputation,
Gonna hang your head down and cry...

You got bad, bad luck
Bad, bad luck
You got bad, bad luck
Bad, bad luck
Thirteen's my lucky number,
To you it means stay inside.
Black cat done crossed my path,
No reason to run and hide.
You're looking through a cracked mirror,
No one really knows the reason why.
Your enemies are gettin' nearer,
Gonna hang down your head and cry...

You got bad, bad luck
Bad, bad luck
You got bad, bad luck
Bad, bad luck
Some people go to church on Sundays,
others they pray at home.
You tell them that there ain't no God,
that they're better off standin' alone.
You're always scratchin' at the eight ball,
No one really knows the reason why.
You get to the top and then you fall,
Gonna hang down your head and cry.

Social Distortion - Bad Luck

[super7man]

If you want to be poor, do what poor people do.

If you want to be rich, do what rich people do.

I have come to the conclusion that persistence is more important than intelligence.

[SamAdams76]

Success is often obtained by playing a poor hand well.

[AllAmericanGirl44]

Fwiw, my Dad always said ‘seems the harder I worked, the luckier I got’.

[mjp]

It’s not just nature, nurture, or luck. People have free will. Their personal choices also determine their destiny.

[crazydad]

It’s called LBJs “Great Society”. Making generations of people dependant on Government. Giving them the “it’s ok, the government will take care of you” mentality.

[jim_trent]

My father often said that you don’t have a choice of the cards you get dealt in life, but you get to play them any way you want.

[Balding_Eagle]

There is luck, and then there is The Bell Curve. The former can be talked and written about, not the latter.

[genghis]

i retired at 56 not super rich, but more than comfortable.
i made 20,000 really bad financial mistakes, and 20 good ones.
The poor almost always are poor because of poor choices.
(though it is amazing how much the government helps them make poor choices.)

[Nuc 1.1]

Poverty is mostly about attitude. Folks that become poor due to bad luck don’t usually stay poor. People with bad attitudes will stay poor even if they have good luck. Now, there is a new component...government imposed poverty. We will see how that one works out...

[Wicket]

Based on a relatively small cohort of folks who barely get by, I’d say poor choices, inability to recognize them and change, poor choices of parents/family, and once caught in the spiral of poverty the challenge of getting out of it.

[SoothingDave]

Are they trying to make a logical argument for removing all children born in unfortunate circumstances and placing them with the better off?

[Salvation]

http://t.money.msn.com/investing/5-cities-where-poverty-is-soaring